Naturally manage pain. If you’re looking for a med-free labor, hypnosis may help. In one 2013study, 46 out of 81 participants ( 51 percent) didn’t use any pain medication and reported their max pain level as just 5.8 on a 10 scale. If you'd rather go to a class, ask your midwife if there are any local antenatal courses that include hypnobirthing. Hypnobirthing teacher and Founder of The Positive Birth Company, Siobhan Miller’s name pops up again and again on our Mumsnet forums. In her book, Siobhan aims to debunk common myths around hypnobirthing while educating women so they can have more control over their body, resulting in a more positive birthing experience. After practicing the breathing techniques very diligently during my pregnancy, I had a harder time implementing them during labor than I thought I would. I think having a doula or midwife who is well trained in this method along side of me would of helped tremendously, or having prepared with my husband by taking a class together also could of helped. I made it a lot further along naturally because of my hypnobirthing preparation though than I ever would have otherwise.

Hypnobirthing by Siobhan Miller | Waterstones Hypnobirthing by Siobhan Miller | Waterstones

Give a feeling of control. Women in the 2013 study also reported feeling more relaxed and in control. As a result, they had less fear about labor and birth.The concept of hypnobirthing sounded like a good one to me to aid in the accomplishment of natural birth. Perhaps if I had taken a series of the classes, I would have liked the techniques and it would have proven worthwhile. I did not find this book helpful at all, however. The book teaches you how to understand the changes in your body so you can make informed decisions, as well as practising relaxation skills, mindfulness and meditation so you stay focussed and calm during labour. This has helped readers feel less anxious about giving birth.

The Hypnobirthing Book - Childbirth with Confidence and Calm

However, the author does tend to show a view of a natural childbirth and says what health care providers do and seems to suggest they shouldn't. Mainly at the end of the book where I think her opinion needs to be toned down as it makes the book less impartial. Also assumes that everyone is breastfeeding. Some things she said raised more questions for me and suggested further reading rather than being supportive and helpful made me worry more. But learning to relax and stay calm may help you feel more in control during labour if things do not go according to plan. Hypnobirthing is something you and your birth partner can learn together. Hypnobirthing can help you work with your body, releasing fears and concerns about the birth. Preceding the practical working chapters were several chapters on the psychological, social, and religious history of labor and delivery. The information included is intensely interesting and informative (although I did find it a bit biased).The hypnobirthing techniques do help with pain management but anybody who tells you the birthing process won't hurt is dishonest. It's how you view the pain that makes the difference. Each birth experience is unique and I wasn't able to have a natural birth with all 4 kids. There are so many factors that contribute to the pain level a woman may endure. (length of labor, size of baby, strenth of contractions, internal canal size, genetics, labor induction, etc.) Some people struggle to learn the relaxation techniques so allowing yourself plenty of time to practise is better, but if you decide later in the pregnancy that you would like to learn about hypnobirthing you can still practise some of the exercises in time for your birth. Can you teach yourself hypnobirthing? I then did the The Nurture Nest Essentials course later in the pregnancy which I found really practical for actually planning my birth and I liked some of the MP3s. She also has a podcast called 'The Hypnobirthing Podcast' which has so much info you might not feel like you need to pay for a course in the end! I bought her course purely because I wanted to support her as the podcast is so good!” (Recommended by Mumsnet user Justdeciding) Our verdict

Hypnobirthing: Practical Ways to Make Your Birth Better

I wish that I could give this book both two and four stars as there are some things that I very much like about the book and other things that I very much dislike.

Lamaze, the Bradley Method, and HypnoBirthing all aim to give birthing parents a positive birth experience. While they each focus on the breath and relaxation during labor and delivery, they’re different in other ways. There are several books on the subject of using hypnosis techniques during birth, each with a slightly different methodology:

Best Pregnancy Books UK 2023 | Mumsnet The Best Pregnancy Books UK 2023 | Mumsnet

The author talks of giving birth in a nice, trusting, positive environment, where you feel calm and loved and accepted. But she does very little to help you feel that way, making you think hospitals (where most of us do give birth) are evil, untrustworthy institutions and doctors unknowledgeable fools (a problem with most natural-birth advocacy books). I wish her book was more like that trusting place she describes, a place where women can go to feel hope and good about themselves, no matter how their deliveries go, where they can tap into their own maternal power. I do believe there is communication that needs to exist between mothers and hospitals/doctors/midwives. I do believe we need to be knowledgeable about our own bodies, I do believe we need to try to relax and trust our own strength, to have a say in our birth experience, and I can imagine that self-hypnosis might help some women go to that place of calm and peace, but this book, unfortunately, does nothing to create that trusting atmosphere or feeling of self-empowerment. Then the directions on how to properly breathe to achieve that meditative state only cause me more stress because I can't do them properly (hey, while your diaphragm is being pushed 2" higher due to that baby right under it, take the deepest, slowest breath you've ever taken and expand the diaphragm all the way down into your pelvis!) (note: it does not actually advocate for expanding your diaphragm into your pelvis, but it does seem to suggest doing the impossible.)

Childbirth is not something to be feared; it is a natural expression of life. With HypnoBirthing, your pregnancy and childbirth will become the gentle, life-affirming process it was meant to be. Whereas hypnobirthing and meditation may be useful tools to aid the pains of birth, the author fails to describe the evidence for this in a convincing manner. Instead, it advertises a pseudoscientific approach to birth that is not just poorly documented but also chemophobic, technophobic and on the verge of charlatan's talk.